I love Azumah too, but the truth is Sanchez beat a better version of Gomez than Azumah did. And more convincingly as well.
It is not highly debatable. It is a fact. Before Sanchez, Gomez had never lost, forget about being dropped or knocked out. He was younger and closer to his prime v Sanchez than v Azumah. Sanchez dropped Gomez in the 1st, dominated, then ended him in the 8th. It took Azumah till the 11th. Those are the facts. Sanchez beat a better version of an atg in Gomez than Azumah did. And more convincingly. I wish there had been a rematch between Sal and Azumah as well
When Nelson beat the great Gomez he was the reigning WBC Featherweight champion of the world and Nelson systemically beat him up and took the belt from him in his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Now reading your post I have to say I am a bit perturbed because on reflection we have to stop this and acknowledge that Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson were 3 all time great iconic fighters. When there names are mentioned in boxing it is with respect and all due deference. I think Gomez may be the best bantamweight in history.
What was McGuigan's manager doing matching him against Cruz, (a guy obviously used to living in that heat) in the middle of the Las Vegas desert, in the middle of the summer no less, (and gave him the corner in direct sun without shade to boot)? His manager owned a line of betting shops throughout Ireland, this seems like a conflict of interest....
I do not know why you are perturbed. All I did was write down the fact that Sal beat a better version of Bazooka more convincingly than the Professor did. If that bothers you, so be it. Having written that, Bazooka is probably the atg at 122, super bantam-not bantam. I don't even remember seeing him at 118.
Seems pretty clear the goal was to get McGuigan over beyond Ireland and try to make him a bigger world star to put him in line for major fights and major purses. And that means Las Vegas, which was the boxing capital of the world at the time. If Barry had to fight in cold-weather venues against Nordic opponents, that wasn’t going to carry him very far. On paper, Cruz was a relatively easy defense. He had been stopped in one round by a journeyman for his only loss. And it’s not like Steve was fighting outdoors in the desert his whole career — had he ever fought outside in the heat before? Barry couldn’t stand the heat, so he should have stayed out of the kitchen.
Nah, it’s pretty well known that Cruz had air conditioning in his corner and Barry’s ringwalk started in Reno and he marched 40 days and 40 nights through the desert to get to the ring.
Steve Cruz was an outstanding Amateur with over 300 Amateur fights, yes his professional career was unremarkable before he fought McGuigan. But if you delve deeper into his background you could see he was talented especially from his Amateur background, and a 25-1 record in professional ranks coming into McGuigan fight is nothing to be sneezed at. Definitely was a step up in class for Cruz but I think he may of been a bit overlooked aswell.
Well, you’d expect any world title challenger to have some credentials and ability. But considering it was a PPV (albeit undercard as part of a triple header) I’d say Cruz was probably on the lower end of acceptable challenger for Barry. I don’t think McGuigan’s side would have been looking at it as a major challenge or any sort of step up.
McGuigan wasn't really matched against Cruz. The fight was originally McGuigan defending against someone else, I think a fighter from Argentina. Cruz was a very late replacement.
